Finished Pieces

Barbie Karaoke

If I were to form some sort of experimental noise army, this piece would be standard issue. It’s portable, versatile, and loud.

It has four different functions.

adjustable speed tape player

simple, amplified mixer

lo-fi echo processor

odd/pulsing/morphing/bleeping sound generator

All of these functions can be used together to achieve a variety of different sounds and effects.

The echo circuit was made to only process the mic signal, but with a little re-wiring, I was able to patch the tape output into the echo also. The echo circuit itself is very simply designed and cheaply built. Changing any of its parameters causes it to go “bonkers”. The pulsing/morphing/bleeping sounds come from the echo circuit at a very low pitch setting. Lots of dense, tonal noise can be created using just this feature.

Controls

The original controls and hardware are:

two mic. inputs

stereo aux. Input

echo on/off switch

mic./aux cross fader

right/left balance

The added controls are:

replaced mic. 1/8″ jacks with 1/4″ jacks

input 1 and input 2 volume controls

power switch

tape speed control

independent tape volume

echo pitch coarse tune and fine tune

echo fade momentary pushbutton and on/off switch. This effect causes the echo to become more distorted with every repetition.

echo hold on/off switch and setting knob

Three pulse/tone generating switches with adjustments. These adjustments vary the volume and speed of the pulses.

hello there, are these mods applicable to any tape recorder? could you provide the schematics (incl. the echo circuit). that echo circuit, is it maybe available as a kit? i may be interested to buy one if possible. thank you, Z

HI, I’ve been looking for a portable childrens pa system. This Barbie one looks like it would work for my children’s class. Is it for sale and do you have one that would be more gender neutral.
Thanks, Becky

I had trouble with the speed mod as I kinda messed with the motor when pulling out the circuit.It finally works great.
Thanks man for sharing all those tips, diagrams and pics.Not evreyone do spread their knowledge with such humility and generosity.